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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

This piece is really fun to play (except when recording!). My challenge was to learn a piece with trills in both the right and left hands. They're a long way from perfect! The other challenge with Bach is that because the music is so thin any and all flubs stick out like sore thumbs.Homemade chicken chili for lunch.

I started working on this in January 9f 2009 with the Revolutionary Etude Study Group on the ABF, and we had a great time encouraging each other with all the challenging fingerings and the tempo. This piece is about 20% above my ability, so I think my playing of it is labored and tense, but I am glad to have finished it. It's a gorgeous work, and though I am not too pleased with my final product, I truly enjoyed the time I spent with it.

I love this forum. It has forced me to practice pieces and correct mistakes rather than simply to ramble through with no commitment. I am still not happy with my recording of Le Onde but consider myself lucky to finally get through it with only a few mistakes!

Just starting to dabble in Chopin, and this one is part of the "Ambitious Section" of Alfred 3. Hope I did it a little justice, because although short and sweet you can really add lots of dynamics both good and bad if not careful. Thanks for listening.

Recorded on the digital Keyboard because my acoustic piano needs to be tuned. Fortunately this arrangement does not include the bridge described below. I thought the original used a harpsichord but it was a piano at 2X speed according to Wikipedia. ->"The song was recorded on 18 October 1965, and was complete except for the instrumental bridge. At that time, Lennon had not decided what instrument to use, but he subsequently asked George Martin to play a piano solo, suggesting "something Baroque-sounding". Martin wrote a Bach-influenced piece that he found he could not play at the song's tempo. On 22 October, the solo was recorded at half-tempo (one octave lower) and tape speed was doubled for the final recording, solving the performance challenge and giving the piano solo a unique, harpsichord-like timbre."

This is a very nice arrangement by Phillip Keveren of a lesser known Beatles song from the White Album. It's fairly challenging for an old dude like me who's only played a few years. The melody is mostly in 6ths, which means you have to move the whole RH for every note change; meanwhile, the LH chugs up and down through 2-octave open chords at a pretty snappy clip. Hard to get through without mistakes, much less give it the expression it deserves. I probably did 70 or 80 recording attempts over the past 3 days (after working on the piece for 3 months). This one seems to suck less than the others. Hope you enjoy it.

With a few minor differences, one being an additional repeat at the end at a higher octave as it is in some versions of the song.

Instrument used:

Casio PX-320, though its not how it sounds since I had to use a different recording method as I had planned. For the first 5months I played with a very cheap non weighted and no pedal.

Recording method:

Recorded Midi with Reddotforever, and had it converted to an mp3.

Technical feedback wanted:

Yes

Additional info:

First of all thanks to the very supportive community here at Pianoworld and especially to AnthonyB for helping me convert my midi into mp3 which is a lot appreciated

At first I wanted to record through line out, but the cable was wrong, then I figured I'd try record with my digital piano through an SDcard, that didn't work either. So in the end had to go for the midi option, but in the end I think it turned out all right at least.

This is a song that I really liked the first time I heard it. Its got a bit of a eerie atmosphere, but somehow feels a bit refreshing as well. Despite the LH being very much the same through most of the song its actually quite a hard piece for my level especially for not being used to long songs and hand independence.

All in all I knew the recording could be so much better,an unecessary speedup, mistakes here and there that is pretty much noticeable and a very unsatisfying arpeggio in the final note like my mind was blanking out, including dynamics needs a lot of work. But after dozens of recording and my best one ending up being when I somehow didn't push the record button properly I think someone told me just to give it up.

If anything I'm pleased about, I'd say the midpart wasn't too bad, and if disregarded the speedup the tempo matches just about the original and I managed the two hardest measures that I occasionally fail.

I know its not the best recording and if I had started earlier I could have had a better version submitted but I'm pleased having submitted at least.

Hopefully someone might enjoy it for me its a very special song and one of the songs inspiring me to take up the piano.

When Schumann wrote the Arabesque in 1839, he was still forcibly separated from his future wife Clara, able to communicate with her only through letters and in music. It seems likely that any music he wrote during this period can be regarded as at least partially directed towards Clara, and that is a fair interpretation of this piece, which alternates a dreamy yearning with more militant episodes. The construction is in strict rondo form, but Schumann makes his own interesting elaborations on the form. The rondo theme itself is in a miniature A-B-A form, although “B” is better labeled “A-prime” since it is a variation of the opening measures. Both contrasting episodes are in minor keys. The first, a contained storm of passion, contains but one theme, varying it and repeating it until a coda for the section returns us to the main rondo theme. The second episode is in march rhythm, which is hardly surprising-—at least one section in march rhythm is found in nearly every piece Schumann wrote. This one leads abruptly back to the rondo theme. The piece concludes with a dreamy coda based on the rondo theme. Such description, of course, in no way explains the magical effect of this piece, one of Schumann’s most popular.

This was the first Kuhlau sonatina that I learned with my current teacher. I've since studied all six sonatinas from Op. 55 and I am currently working on Op. 20 No. 2. I had wanted to submit this piece in the last recital but didn't get around to doing so.

Lunch is a distant memory as it is 4:50 in the morning but I had baked chicken, white rice, carrots and broccoli with cranberry juice and an apple for dessert.

I think that quote sums up the technical side of the piece! This is one of my favourite Philip Glass compositions - its very repetitive, quite simple, yet also beautiful. I just wish I had played the LH a bit harder, it doesn't cut through very well.

For my recording, I tried to follow the interpretation of Branka Parlic - a Serbian pianist. This means playing a touch slower than the original, give the piece more dynamic range, and only repeating the whole thing twice instead of three times.

I love this little piece - my first Mendelssohn! It's still only at about 75% tempo and very much in the polishing stage. My teacher is patiently helping me work out the many rough patches. I'm finding that the biggest challenge with this piece is bringing out the melody (smoothly - with not too much pedal) while not letting the harmony disappear....and not rushing through the difficult sections. For me it's a little piece with lots of hidden technical challenges.

This is one of Einaudi's most tender, beautiful pieces. It involves a lot of big chords that need to be played legato in order to create an echoing mood. I still consider it a work in progress. I added some chords to the last couple of measures, as I thought they captured the feel of the recorded version better than the sheet music transcription did.

A work in progress. There are some places where I missed the RH octave, but got it on the repeat. There are some places where I was flustered and forgot the piece. But boy, did I learn a lot working on this.

The piece, in my mind, is Strauss-like. I didn't have the chops to play it quite like that but it was an approach. I wanted it to be actually a waltz - to make someone want to waltz - not just a concert-listening piece. To that end I put a lot of thought and practice in to where the accents should be, and the phrasing, and the pedal. I particularly worked on the transitions, trying to make them a continuous part of the waltzing. I can't say I was successful in any of that but there are hints of it. But it was a great exercise, and when the band recorded last week my accompanying was a cut above what I've done before. So it's been quite a worthwhile experiment. And I plan on working on this a lot more, so maybe one of these days I'll put an update in the piano bar.

I love Mozart's music! It has such a joyful energy to it, that it just makes me happy to listen to it. This was an obvious one to start with, since it is supposed to be "Facile". But there were lots of new things to work on: scales, arpeggios, trills (ugh!), keeping a regular tempo. There's still plenty of room for improvement, most notably increasing the tempo, but I'm liking it so far. Many thanks again to my teacher for helping me get to this point with the piece.

Liszt's famous piano transcription of Schubert's famous song about unrequited love.

My interpretation needs work. I still find it very hard to tone down the heavy texture in the left hand, and to articulate the melody line well (especially the trills). But I am making progress, and the recital provided the motivation to focus on the piece.

It's my first Bach piece, my teacher assigned it to me. At first I thought - what? that's easy! - but now I know how badly wrong I was. I've been playing this piece for over a month now, and the recital recording is still a failed attempt to perform it properly (especially considering wonderful performance by LisztAddict last time). The level of precision that Bach requires (and I do not posess) is tremendous. I'll be doing a lot more Bach from now on, I know I need it. Even though I am thoroughly not happy with this recording, I hope you'll enjoy it anyway

I was hesitant at putting in such a short piece for the recital since I'd have preferred to have gotten Forest polished off.

However, clipping together the video (my first one) was a real production and thus I figured it would be good enough to give the folks some enjoyment.

The piece is from LOST (TV Series) and has been used at different points (Charlies Death, other pivotal moments). It was first introduced in the episode where Clair's baby is born and Boone dies (hence the title).

Since I LOVE TV/Film music I wanted to get this one recorded in both video & MP3.

Lunch? well it's 8:23am and I've now got to go and change the front & rear pads on my car so hopefully I'll be eating some left over Chinese later on

I played this slightly slower than I usually, but after getting used to it, actually found this tempo very musical! It's a beautiful piece either way, and taught me a lot about phrasing, ornaments and playing without looking at my hands too much

Critical feedback is as always very welcome! You've been way too gentle with me for the last 2 recitals